Canadian GP falls off Formula One calendar from 2009

North America will be absent from next year’s Formula One world championship after the Canadian Grand Prix was dropped from a revised calendar issued by the sport’s governing body on Tuesday. No reason was given by the International Automobile Federation (FIA) to drop the race at Montreal’s Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, a favourite with teams and sponsors.

The 18-race calendar, issued after a meeting of the FIA’s World Motor Sport Council in Paris, reinserted a three-week summer break for teams by moving the Turkish Grand Prix from August to fill Canada’s slot on June 7. The Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps was moved from September to August 30, the weekend after the European Grand Prix in Valencia. The Italian Grand Prix retreated a week to take Belgium’s original September 13 date. All other dates remained the same, with Australia kicking off the season on March 29 and Abu Dhabi making its debut as the final race on November 15.

The FIA also announced that its president Max Mosley had been given the authority to negotiate with the Formula One Teams Association (FOTA) for the introduction of radical measures to achieve a substantial reduction of costs from 2010. It said that failing agreement with the FOTA, the FIA would enforce necessary measures to achieve that goal.

Cost cutting

The World Motor Sport Council also agreed to allow Formula One teams to equalise engine performance across the field for 2009, pending the introduction of cost-saving measures from 2010.

Marco Piccinini, the FIA deputy president for sport who represented the body at this year’s Monaco Grand Prix after Mosley was caught in a sex scandal, will stand down a year ahead of time. The FIA said a successor would be elected.

Mosley, who won a vote of confidence to stay in office, has said he will stand down in October next year when his term expires.